


In Which Cam Reveals that He Just Might Have a Heart

by gingayellow



Category: Power Rangers Ninja Storm
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-16 00:51:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9266444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingayellow/pseuds/gingayellow
Summary: The Ninja Storm Rangers are as dear to Cam as family--he just won't admit it out loud.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Revieloutionne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revieloutionne/gifts).



Title: In Which Cam Reveals that He Just Might Have a Heart  
Fandom: Power Rangers Ninja Storm  
Characters/Pairing: Cam Watanabe, Shane Clark, Tori Hanson, Dustin Brooks  
Rating: G  
Disclaimer: Not mine, anything mentioned here by name isn't mine  
Warnings: None  
Notes: Takes place early-ish in the series (before they meet the Thunder Ninja Bros). Written for Revieloutionne, and I hope you like it!

\--

“Nothing broke!” Dustin yelled, because he knew Cam well enough that he was going to ask that first. Okay. Now all he had to do was find a broom, do some awkward sweeping and—

“Dustin, you and I both know that is a lie—” Cam froze mid-step (and mid-snarl) in the doorway. Great. He was so mad about Dustin breaking Cam’s super advanced science thing, his brain had flatlined. Dustin had accidentally destroyed the guy who saved their butts on a regular basis.

“Hold still,” Cam said gruffly, grabbing Dustin’s hand. “You’re bleeding.”

“What?” Oh, yeah, his hand had gotten pretty messed up when the tiny explosion happened. But it wasn’t much worse than any injuries he got while moto biking or Ranger-ing, so he hadn’t thought it was that big a deal. Cam, however, grumbling unkind things as he dragged Dustin to the small room that served as their makeshift med bay, appeared to think otherwise.

“Dustin, I’ll explain it in plain terms. You need your hands for Zord driving and/or piloting, depending on what type of battle you’re in.” Cam cleaned out the wound with antiseptic (and glared at Dustin every time he flinched), and then rummaged around in a drawer for gauze. “Therefore, you need to be more aware of hand injuries.”

“Um, yeah, dude. I’ll do that.” Dustin was still processing it all. Cam was being nice. To **him**. Yeah, he was being a grouch about it, but that was just Cam’s nature. “So, you want me to clean up the mess now or what?”

“Of course I do. It’s the only way you’ll learn. But wait until your hand heals.” That, of course, would only take a few hours—one of the nice things about being a Ranger was that you healed faster than most humans. Of course, that wasn’t going to help if you were bleeding all over the place. “Now I have to get back to work. Try not to blow up anymore of my equipment?”

“Yeah,” Dustin said softly as Cam stomped off. “I’ll do that.”

\--

“Tori, I hate everyone at this beach.”

“Aw.” Tori gave him her ‘peacemaking’ smile. “Even me?”

Cam frowned. “You don’t want me to answer that right now.”

So much for peace and smiles. “Well, it still means a lot to me that you showed up.” This was the first big surf meet for the year, and while Tori was prepared, she was nervous. This was her first real step into almost professional surfing, and it was also on a day that Dustin was visiting his grandparents and Shane was working. She’d thought she was going to be alone on her big day… until Cam had said he’d go to make up for Shane and Dustin ‘having poor scheduling skills’ or something along those lines. It’d been a last minute decision, which was why Cam was on a beach in California in early summer wearing slacks and a long sleeved shirt, and everyone was laughing at him.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve left the school,” Cam explained in that forced, stilted tone that meant he was embarrassed but didn’t want to show it. “The last time I went to the beach I was fifteen. Needless to say, that suit doesn’t fit anymore.”

“Well, you’ll get plenty of times now.” Because they were friends now. “And I’ll ask Shane to help you find some beach gear, okay?” She waited for Cam to say something rude about Shane and refuse until she bugged him enough that it wore him down and he gave in, but instead he just huffed and looked away.

“Whatever, Tori.”

Tori grinned.

\--

“Dude. There is no way you cannot have a favorite color!”

“Yes, there is.” Cam gave Shane The Look. “That’s because I’m more interested in practicality over aesthetic.”

“You can have both,” Shane reminded him as he looked through swim trunks, wishing that he had some clue about what Cam actually wanted, because the only other strategy he could think of was trying on everything that fit Cam, and he was going to be late for work, and why did he let Tori push him into this again—

“Shane, how about these?” Cam held up a green pair of trunks.

Shane blinked. “Um, they’ll do.” They were a little dull, but so was Cam.

“Great—I know you have to work in an hour. Now c’mon, I need to buy these.”

Shane bit back a sigh. He was feeling bad about his earlier thought. Cam might not be the most exciting dude in the world, but he did care about them.

And it was time to show that they cared about him, too.

\--

“This is the most ridiculous event I’ve ever attended.”

Dustin managed to smile even more obnoxiously, if such a thing were possible. “Well, that’s a weird way to say ‘fun,’ dude!”

“He’s got a point,” Tori said, standing over the grill. “We’ve got the ocean, a summer breeze, and hot dogs grilling.”

Shane—Shane actually elbowed Cam playfully in the ribs before breaking out the paper plates. How dare he. “Not even you can be a grouch today, Cam.”

Cam wanted to be a grouch. He wanted to complain about lost work hours and how annoying it was that they just assumed he’d want to come along, but… all he had been doing was running scans. And it had been a solid week since he’d gone to town with Shane. Even he had to get out sometimes, and they’d realized that.

But he still had a reputation to uphold, so… “I’m only staying because of the hot dogs.”


End file.
